242 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
than themselves,, they exhibit no contemptible know- 
ledge of the mechanical arts ; and even in mere mat- 
ters of taste they are in many instances superior to 
the more enlightened communities inhabiting the 
plains. Their architecture, though plain, is admirably 
adapted both to the climate and locality in which 
they dwell ; and some of their manufactures are not 
only skilfully produced, but likewise extremely elegant. 
Their singular dexterity in the construction of bridges 
is equal to that of any people in the world ; nor is the 
beauty and symmetry of these structures inferior to their 
simplicity, strength, and usefulness. 
It is surprising how much knowledge even the man 
of science may gain by visiting countries in a compa- 
rative state of barbarism, where the mere intuitive ap- 
pliances of human ingenuity, which among more civi- 
lised races have vanished with the lapse of time and 
been succeeded by higher principles of knowledge, are 
yet to be seen in all their striking aspects of element- 
ary power, showing that the human mind, in every 
condition of humanity and under the heaviest pressure 
of national degradation, is still a mighty vehicle, to the 
operation of which there is no assignable limit, and 
that man is everywhere, even under the greatest 
social and moral disadvantages, as Shakspeare has 
represented him, “ the beauty of the world and the 
paragon of animals.” 
THE END. 
Loudon; Printed by Samuel Bentley, Dorset Street, Fleet Street. 
